Caverns of Fear
by trekker4life
Summary: When an offworld mission goes wrong, who will be saved?  Who will be the one to die?  KA  Original Cartoon based.
1. Prologue

_**Hi All!**_

…_**yeah…I have no true reason for writing this fic. The inspiration just hit me the other day and I wanted to write it…. This is my first foray into the Voltron fandom and, while my first exposure to it was **_**Voltron: the Third Dimension**_**, I have recently seen quite a few of the original episodes, which inspired this. **_

_**Also inspiration was a first season episode of **_**Star Trek: the Next Generation**_**, "Arsenal of Freedom." If you're a Trekker, like me, you'll know where this is headed. **_

_**The title is tentative…it was the first one I could think of…I'm not too happy with it. Same goes for the summary…. Oh, and this is just the prologue. More will be explained throughout the story. I really just want to see if people would be interested in a fic like this…. **_

_**KeithxAllura forever!**_

_**Trekker**_

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**Caverns of Fear**

**Prologue**

_**BOOM!!!!!**_

The massive missile landed in the center of the group of lions, forcing them apart.

"Split up!" ordered Keith from the Black Lion. "Princess, with me; the rest of you, stay together! No one goes off alone!!"

Lance, Hunk, and Pidge disappeared into the dust cloud in their respective lions while Allura followed Keith in her Blue Lion.

As soon as his orders were finished, Keith took off, trying to race away from their current bombardment. The missiles, rockets, and lasers didn't seem to let up as they dashed back toward the mountains. Once there, they would have a better vantage point from which to find the source of the attacks.

Allura looked up and saw first the Black Lion in front of her, then how close they were to the mountains. Just a few more lion lengths, and they'd be there! "Keith," she called, a small smile appearing on her face. "We're nearly there!"

The Black Lion turned his head around to look back at the Blue Lion; inside, Keith's face went from cautious hope to pure fear. He cried out, trying to gain the other Lion's pilot's attention in time.

"Allura! Watch out!"

_What?_ thought Allura.

That was all she had time to think, however, before the Blue Lion was hit in the back by a missile, forcing it to in turn hit the Black Lion, slamming them both into the ground.

The ground where the Lions landed had been weakened by earlier attacks.

It collapsed under the combined weight of the Lions, plunging them into the depths of the underground caverns below.

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_**So, yeah…kinda short, but like I said, it's the prologue…. If you like it, say so, and I'll try to get up another chap sometime in the near future. But just to warn you, this is a definite fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants fic. I only have a general idea where this is going…and none of the chaps have been written up yet…. But anyway, lemme know what you think in a review.**_

_**Trekker**_


	2. Chapter 1

_**Hi All –**_

_**So…yeah…I'm procrastinating on both my homework for school and my other stories, but here's this... Hope you like it.**_

_**Trekker**_

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**Caverns of Fear**

**Chapter 1**

"Ngh..."

Keith stirred, slumped over the main control console of Black Lion. He slowly raised a hand to his head, hissing in pain when it came in contact with a large, swollen bump.

"Oww…damn."

He reached out with his other hand, blinding groping for the comm-link button. Finding it and flipping it on, he called out.

"Allura. Allura, are you there?"

A few seconds passed.

No answer.

The fog caused by his induced sleep started to lift; fear beginning to settle in its place. He tried again.

"Princess, can you hear me? Princess Allura, this is Keith! If you can hear me, please respond!"

A few seconds…thirty seconds…a minute.

Nothing.

Keith turned, painfully – _that's a few cracked ribs, at least_ – and fiddled with Black Lion's power controls, trying to assess the damage. After a few minutes, it seemed that offensive systems were shot and defensive nearly so – meaning the Lion was a sitting duck if anyone wanted to attack – but he still had power to move, and that was the important thing right now.

"Sh…ke…th…."

_Huh?_

The rattle of static drew his attention back to the comm.

"Sh…Keith…ear me?"

"Allura!"

He hurried his movements, moving dials and flipping levers as fast as he could, trying to clear the static from the signal. Keith flicked a final switch before calling out.

"Princess! Princess Allura, are you there?"

After a brief, heart-stopping moment of silence, the most beautiful sound came through the speakers.

"Keith? Is that you?"

Those were the first words he had heard clearly from Allura in heaven-only-knows how long. _Thank the spirits_, he thought, breathing a sigh of relief before replying.

"Yes, Princess – it's me. Do you know where you are?"

"Ah…no. There must be debris or something piled on top of Blue Lion. I can't get her to move."

Something was off about Allura's voice…she sounded very, very tired. But then again, Keith supposed his voice wasn't exactly normal either, especially coming off a crash like that.

"You still have power, though, right?"

"Huh? Power…yeah, I've got some."

"Good. Can you flip on your emergency beacon? Black Lion managed to escape damage, for the most part, so I can follow that to you."

"Alright…standby."

Keith waited, shoving his worry to the side while he finished a few checks on Black Lion. A few moments later, Allura's voice came back on the line, sounding even more tired and almost in pain.

"Alright, Keith…I've got the beacon on."

"Allura…are you alright?"

It took her a moment to respond.

"I…I don't know, Keith. I think Blue Lion's really damaged – I can't move very much. And my head feels really heavy – like I haven't slept in a week."

Keith frowned. As Allura talked, the fear and discomfort in him grew.

"Hey, Princess – I want you to keep this line open, alright? Keep talking to me until you can see me."

"Talk to you?" she asked, slowly. "About what?"

Keith brought Black Lion to its feet and set off in the direction of the blinking beacon showing on his monitor screen.

"I don't know – anything…everything. Just _don't fall asleep_."

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_**That seems like a good place to end it. And just fyi – Allura's got a concussion, so that's why Keith doesn't want her to fall asleep. **_

_**I've got a little more, but it might be a while before that comes out. This won't be a long story, though…probably two more chaps and maybe an epilogue, depending on how the chaps end.**_

_**Lemme know what you think!**_

_**Trekker**_


End file.
